52 
Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
On heavy lands and, as a r\ile, on purely arable farms, breeding would 
not be so profitable as keeping dry sheep ; as in the first case in winter they 
would poison the land and not thrive, and in the second case turnips and 
hay are too expensive keep to make sheep-breeding profitable. 
Again, on poor arable lands it is better policy to consume the roots with 
fattening sheep, and so enrich the land, than to feed them off with ewes, 
leaving the land but little richer after the turnips than it was before. To 
breed sheep economically there must be dry sound pastures or downs, so that 
the ewes may be wintered at small cost. In many districts it costs 30s. to 
keep a ewe from November 1st till April 1st. As a rule this must be a 
losing game. Moreover, it very often happens that the corn crops are 
seriously injured by seed-sowing being retarded to allow the sheep to consume 
the roots. Again, with a regular breeding-flock, in seasons of deficient green 
crops, you are put to serious straits for want of keep. The sheep are 
" pinched," or sold at a sacrifice. In keeping a fattening stock, you can 
purchase according to your requirements ; and in seasons of drought and low 
prices the breeder's loss is the feeder's gain. 
I do not think any fair comparison can be drawn between the cases of sheep 
and horses, because, as a rule, where you keep sheep you cannot keep horses. 
A few colts among sheep to eat the bents may be profitable, but kept in any 
numbers among sheep they would not tlirive. 
As a rule, I think cattle would be more profitable to breed and rear than 
hacks or hunters, because of the greater risks to the latter ; also, because they 
injure so much keep by their incessant movements. If a farmer has a 
speciality for nags, can ride them well and sell them well, they may pay very 
well ; but that would be an exceptional case. Breeding good agricultural 
horses would, I think, compare favourably with any stock-breeding. 
On dry arable lands it would be preferable to feed the roots on the land 
with cake and hay with sheep, to pulling them off and consuming them with 
cattle in the yards ; and even on heavy land, where straw rmist be trodden 
down, better feed the roots on the land and litter the sheep with the straw. 
On pastures I would prefer chiefly bullocks, as sheep pick all the finer 
grasses and injure the land. J know no one who has kept a regular stud 
farm. As regards horses, everj'thing depends on the kind of work to be 
done. Light horses, as a rule, for light land, and heavy ones for heavy land. 
Wehsh horses suit the hill country admirably ; Clydesdales suit the low- 
lands. I think Shorthorns suited to almost all districts, and superior to any 
breed. 
E. Strattox. 
37. Mill of Aedlethen, Aberdeenshire, N.B. 
I am of opinion that the British farmer can, with profit to himself, breed 
more horses, cattle, and sheep than he at present does. On my farm of 
some 500 acres I breed all I require. I consider it advantageous to breed 
horses, keeping in view the high prices they have now attained. In 
breeding cattle you can bring them earlier to maturity ; by housing the 
calves early in the autumn you never allow the calf-heef to go of, and thus 
have them ready for the market when tliey are from 20 to 27 months old. 
I have adopted this system for the past twelve years, and for the last three 
have reahsed from 30/. to 35?. per head. 
We have no farms in this quarter set aside for breeding horses, and in 
general wo only breed as many as are sufiicient for the working of the 
farm. 
